The effects of the government shutdown were felt immediately on the Hill: Long lines to get in, furlough notices being sent out and hot meals replaced with boxed lunches.

Some lines lasted two and a half hours, particularly in the early morning, outside Hart Senate Office Building as additional entrances, normally open, were closed, according to security.

Another difference lawmakers might notice? Their lunches have been scaled back as well. The usually buffet-style lunches with ice cream were instead box lunches for the Senate GOP on Tuesday. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Senate Democrats had boxed lunches as well.

Building operations too confirmed reductions. One employee said the Senate grill located in Dirksen Senate Office Building and the Senate carry-out in the Capitol are the only two cafeterias open due to the shutdown. Additionally, one maintenance employee said their teams are “limited” as well. He added that while he normally helps set up committee hearing rooms, he is now helping around with trash collection and as of last night, maintenance staff numbers were being cut back.

Across the Capitol, offices have handled the shut down differently, some operating at reduced staff rates and others who had staffers turning up unsure whether they’ll be paid.

“Well we didn’t know what—by the time we went to bed list night, or the staff did, they weren’t sure, so they all came in today working without pay, so it will be after today that we really feel the impact,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said.

Flake added that they will be reaching out to staff before they head out the doors Tuesday about whether or not they will stay on during the shutdown.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said his staff has been cut back from forty to five staffers across his offices.

“We have basically five staffers that we have — we just don’t think it’s fair to have people working when they’re not being paid, so we have five staffers who are staying out of a staff of about forty. It’s forty staffers in D.C. and statewide and we have five that are staying on,” Kaine said.

“Four are in Washington and one is in one of the state offices, it’s the individual that runs all of constituency services,” Kaine added.

Asked about how his constituents felt it, Alexander said: “The constituents who work on my staff certainly are feeling it. But they are closing down today and starting tomorrow, we will be operational at about one quarter of our normal staff. We put a pause an on number of activities we usually consider essential. And we hope when this is over, we will do them a little later.”

Sen. Robert Menendez echoed similar challenges saying he has “dramatically reduced” staff both in D.C. and in state offices.

“We’ve dramatically reduced our staff, we have no legislative correspondence which means we can’t respond to people’s letters, we have most of our press staff is not in operation and that makes it all obviously— and then back at home, there’s virtually nobody in the office,” Menendez (D-N.J.) said.

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California said due to the shutdown she has just two people in her offices back home in a state of 38 million and was informed this morning that she wouldn’t be receiving her congressional mail because there is insufficient staff to screen it.

“We have six offices that are all shut down in my state, that take care of people in my state, where my people come in, they tell us what they need, they give us their opinions, they bring in their casework. That is all shut down,” Boxer told POLITICO. “That’s the worse problem that I have.”

The staffing reductions have been felt all the way up to leadership, with Sen. Mitch McConell’s (R-Ky.) confirming they too are dealing with reduce operations.

“We’ll have a reduced staff, but he feels it’s important to be able to hear form his constituents, so we’ll have staff here to communicate with his constituents,” Don Stewart, deputy chief of staff to Sen. McConnell said.

But Stewart added that floor proceedings have continued as usual.

“I don’t know about committees, but we’ve been active on the floor, members have been speaking on the floor trying to figure out a solution, so people are working,” Stewart said.

Other Senators took to Twitter to alert of office closures due to the shutdown.

The office of Senator Heitkamp is currently closed because of the shutdown of the federal government due to lapsed appropriations. (1/2)— Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (@SenatorHeitkamp) October 1, 2013

The office will re-open as soon as normal government operations resume. During the government shutdown this account will not be updated(2/2)— Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (@SenatorHeitkamp) October 1, 2013

The other uncertainty has been whether committee work and hearings will proceed during the shutdown. Menendez said that the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on Thursday will continue.

“In the committee that’s a little different because that’s one of the exempted areas and we’re doing national security work, so we’re going to go ahead and have our hearing on Iran on Thursday,” the New Jersey senator, who is chairman of the committee, said.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs office, which is chaired by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), said hearings are being held on a case by case basis moving forward until the shutdown situation is resolved.

Carper’s own state offices will be closed, with a limited number of exempted staff in both his own offices that the offices of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which he is chairman.

However, hearings for the Senate Housing, Banking and Urban Affairs Committee were held as scheduled.

A hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, went forward as well, however, Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) took the time to address the shutdown, saying it was “odd” that the committee continued “like nothing is different.”

“I agree that our Committee has a constitutional duty to provide oversight, and hearings like this one are a key part of that oversight. But it seems odd for our Committee to be here today, acting like nothing is different, and pretending that we are just going about our business,” Cummings said.

Burgess Everett and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It is Sen. Bob Menendez.